Armenia’s agricultural irrigated land has increased by almost 7.1 hectares
In the first half of 2019 Armenia’s agricultural irrigated land has increased by almost 7.1 hectares, when compared with the first half of 2018, the head of Water Committee Vardan Melkonyan told a press conference today.
He said new land users have emerged and his agency along with the law-enforcement bodies is trying to identify unregistered land owners.
According to him, in the first six months of 2019, some 920 new water supply contracts were concluded with farmers. Also, the volume of water released from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes was reduced by 30 million cubic meters to 188 million, down from 218 million released in the first six months of 2018.
"The decrease in water release did not cause serious discontent. This means that last year’s figure did not correspond to reality," Melkonyan said. He said also that the fee collection rate for use of irrigation water grew by 24 million drams to 846 million drams, up from 822 million drams in the same period last year.
According to Melkonyan, losses in some sections of the canal that carries water from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes reach 40%, up from the planned 7%. He said the canal is over 60 years old, and during this time no significant amount was invested to upgrade it.
In the first half of 2019 some 29 million cubic meters of water were released from Lake Sevan, by 14 million cubic meters less than in the same period last year.
Sevan is one of the largest mountainous lakes in Europe and Asia. It sits in the middle of Armenian Highland at an altitude of 1914 meters. The lake’s water surface is 1,500 square kilometers. Sevan is the main resource of drinking water in the region. -0---